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The 'banner' headline atop the front cover gave it away. Target, published by Polystyle Publications, was really nothing more than a resurrected TV Action, but a much cheaper, slapdash version that was, frankly, uninspiring. It lasted 19 issues before being merged into TV Comic, and it's a surprise that it even survived for so long. The title was presumably inspired by Patrick Mower's TV show, but there had been another periodical called Target, published by New English Library, a few years before.
Harry North's black and white art on Hazell was the best thing about the comic, and if the colouring on some of the other strips had been better, and other artists' work tighter, the publication may have stood a greater chance of success. I can no longer recall whether I stayed with Target for its entire short run or jumped ship after #3, but I do remember giving the first three issues to a pal in the late '70s, possibly the start of the '80s, and I thought that was the last I'd ever see of them.
Around 33-odd years later, though, he gave me them back, along with some other comics I'd given him, which I've now 're-owned' for around 7 years or thereabouts, so I thought I'd share the entire first issue with you here on Crivens. If you bought Target back in the '70s, what did you think of it? Or if you're seeing it here for the very first time, does it look like a comic you'd have been interested in? Share your thoughts in our ever-lovin' comments section if you'd be so good.
(Yeah, I know the post's title is a contradiction-in-terms if taken literally, but I mean it in an ironic, figurative way.)
And, below, is the earlier NEL title of the same name, but which was a very different type of publication.
It certainly looks better on a screen than the original physical copy.
ReplyDeleteI must confess that I digitally whitened up the pages a little for clarity, CN, 'cos they looked a little too dark and dirty in their un-retouched newsprint form.
ReplyDeleteKojak, Cannon and Charlie’s Angels. I don’t recall US comics for them. It would be ironic if the only comics were UK.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of any US comics devoted to them either, PS, but I doubt they'd have sold in individual mags anyway, even in the UK. They work best as episodic adventures in 'anthology' titles - if they work at all, that is.
ReplyDeleteI always thought it was a shame that the TV series Target never made it onto DVD, tied up by some sort of legal issue behined the scenes I believe. Being a fan of that sort of series (and since acquiring, The Sweeney, Special Branch, Callan and the like on disc over the years)I'd like to have re-watched the show.
ReplyDeleteI do recall the other Target mag, some issues of which did reach our shores and were bought by me back in the day, but alas were lost at some point since then. Probably the Christopher Lee / Hammer features would have caught my attention.
"There's been a murder!" Yeah, Taggart murdering the Glasgow accent, PC. It wasn't a bad series at all, and I loved the theme tune when Maggie Bell (I think) sung it. I didn't realise it hadn't been released on dvd, but it's repeated quite regularly on TV all the time.
ReplyDeleteThe first Target (Target/Taggart - it's getting confusing) lasted longer than the second, but again, I can't remember just how long I stayed with it. I've only got the first issue of the NEL version and I'm glad to own it again, but it was more modelled after a girls style of mag than a boys, what with its fashion pages and the like.
Added anything nice to your collection recently?
The Target and Charlie's Angels artwork look more like rough layouts than finished artwork. The Hazell material is (as you've noted) easily the best....Cannon and Kojak are so-so but passable.
ReplyDeleteYeah, most of it looks just a tad too rushed, doesn't it, BS? Not a patch on TV Action, being nothing more than a cheap stand-in.
ReplyDelete